[anyfour]

First off, did anyone see the ripper that went for $3400 last week? Astronomical price, but it was nice and clean.

There is one on ebay now that is black with a maple fingerboard. Gibson never did that, did they? I have only ever seen black ones with the ebony or maybe rosewood, but never maple. Just curious.

Matt

[guitarshark]

I saw the one that sold for big $$$. last week. I wonder whether that was a legitimate auction or the product of shill bidding.
If you see it relisted by the same seller in the future, you'll know that was the case.
Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake, & Palmer) had a black Ripper with a maple fingerboard in '74. In fact he appeared on the cover of Guitar Player magazine with it in the summer of '74. It never was an official option, so if it's not a refinished natural Ripper, it would be a pretty rare bass.
I haven't yet checked out the auction for the black/maple Ripper...

[anyfour]

Well, if you look below the pictures and description, there is a question asked, and answered. In his answer, he states that aside from pickguard, bass is all original. Clearly the tuners are NOT original. They look like Epi's (stick out like Ross Perot's ears) and obviously the finish isnt. I would say its a safe bet the bridge has been replaced as well. Its way too shiny for a non pristine bass....like the $3400 one. lol

[guitarshark]

This is the one with the gray MOTO 'guard, item # 110238112495, right?
Hard to tell anything beyond the changed guard and, as you said, the obvious Epi type tuners, His pictures leave a lot to be desired....
Also says in the description that Rippers were bolt on neck until '75! No idea where he got that idea from, must be confusing them with Grabbers (even though Grabbers and G-3s came after Rippers were introduced) somehow.
If you read his response to the posted question he says he's basing his price on the Ripper that just sold on Ebay for over $3,000. Looks like a lot of Rippers are appearing on Ebay already, no doubt a lot of people fishing to see if they can get $3K+ for theirs.
It's not a good thing, the market will be flooded with them, and Rippers ain't exactly rare...

[anyfour]

Exactly! I forgot all about his Bolt on comment. I can understand why the one last week went for a high price. One owner, and it was like a time capsule item. Rarely played, excellent finish, great case. It probably had original strings on it! :-)

There have been a few high priced rippers lately, and ebay is pretty much always got 2-3 at a time on there.

I must say, though, I didnt care much for the attitude of the seller. And Im sure his feelings wil be hurt when no one bids for even the minimum price.

[barend]

I bought my black Ripper (all original) for 625$ on Ebay last year.

A normal price for a Ripper is around 800-1000$.

3000$ is absurd!!!!! no one is going to pay that.

[anyfour]

Thats a great price now. I just got an all original one, natural, and ugly finish wise for $500 without a case. I love the black ones. Im thinking of doing mine in black since it needs to be reginished anyway. But for some reason, after seeing his, it doesnt look right. I have a black grabber with maple board and it's cool. But for some reason, knowing it's a ripper changes everything and I dont like it as much.

[guitarshark]

I paid $1250 + shipping over a year ago for my black '75 Ripper. I saw a black '78 sell for $1800 ish about 6 weeks ago on ebay.
The trend does seem to be upward with Rippers, but even for a super clean one $3400 seems high, especially for a natural one which is the most common color. I still have doubts about the veracity of that $3400 Ripper auction,
Of course I can see a really nice one bringing more $, but at least three times the normal value seems a bit extreme to me.
Still, having said that, all collectibles are worth what someone's willing to pay for them once the price exceeds their intrinsic value, so if you get several highly motivated bidders, anything's possible...
Who knows, maybe Rippers are on their way to being the Holy Grails of Gibson basses!

Regarding black/maple board Rippers, I don't know, it looks cool to me, but that's probably because the first Ripper I ever saw was the one Greg Lake had on the cover of GP magazine back in '74.